S-Town 0 – Perds 1: Round 1, Game 1 Recap

Seriously, if Nashville is going to revert to clogging the neutral zone all series, it may be their best strategy, but it will be a fucking snoozefest.

I’ll keep it short. Chicago pretty much dominated possession at even strength and score-adjusted, but that didn’t translate into scoring chances which ended up virtually even. The Perds blocked a seasons worth of shots tonight (26), which isn’t a long-term strategy for winning. It may help them get past the Hawks, but sooner or later those shots are going to get through.

The Hawks will need to figure out how to get through the neutral zone and get chances off the rush. They cycled the puck plenty tonight but to no avail. In the end, the top performers on the team need to show up for the Hawks to have a chance in this series (aside from Hossa who played great, despite what some of my beer league teammates think).

Rinne looks as beatable as a goalie can in a shutout. It’s up to the Hawks to show up for the next one.